The city of Morgantown, West Virginia, home to West
Virginia University, is making national headlines as an "economic oasis."
It is one of the few U.S. locations to be successfully isolated from the current
recession, offering diverse opportunities for employment and research plus a
low cost of living.
Isolation of another kind is occurring in the University’s Nanosystems
Engineering Shared Cleanroom (NESC), where Dr. Kolin Brown is installing a new
e-beam lithography/scanning electron microscope (SEM). Outfitted with a customized
acoustic enclosure to isolate it from the constant background noise, vibration,
and magnetic interference of the class 10,000 clean room, the new SEM will do
double duty. As an e-beam lithography system, it will produce precise patterns
and features just nanometers in width on silicon substrates. As an SEM, it will
allow students and researchers to examine nanowires linked to extremely small
components at ultrahigh resolution and magnifications up to 1,000,000X. This
level of precision will be demanded around the clock in a multiuser environment
that also contains polymer spinners, wet development benches, and plasma etch
tools.
“This is going to be a very hot instrument that a lot of people will
want to come and use,” said Brown, Research Program Coordinator for WVU’s
clean room. “Our goal is to have the best SEM on campus.” The lithography
capability makes it even more exciting. “One of our questions is, how
small can we go? Sometimes we’re talking sixty to seventy nanometer patterns
or just ten to twelve nanowires.”
Through a National Science Foundation Grant that was matched by a grant from
the state of West Virginia, the analytical field emission SEM is part of the
University’s vigorous WVNano Initiative, giving researchers and students
from multiple disciplinary fields the tools and facilities they need to develop
new biosensors, semiconductor devices, structures, and photonic crystals. Replacing
an antiquated but dedicated e-beam lithography tool on another part of the large
campus, the new SEM will allow rapid proof of design and application testing.
From undergraduates to post docs, exposure to the JEOL
JSM-7600F field emission analytical SEM is the opportunity to use the most advanced
analytical electron microscope technology available today. Additionally, outside
researchers working within West Virginia’s higher educatin system or industry
will be given access.
“We’re not just multidisciplinary but interdisciplinary,”
said Christie Zachary, Public Relations Specialist at WVNano. “At West
Virginia University we offer everything from toxicology to orthopedics. We’re
responsible for building an infrastructure and educating students so they can
get out into the workforce. We’re changing our culture and emerging as
a resource for true interdisciplinary research, and changing people’s
perspective of industry. Ours is more of a group culture.”
Dr. Brown adds, “The interests of our students are so vast. They are
studying materials, or looking at the biomedical side of early cancer detection,
where a lot of our work is looking at delivery of organic materials to sensors
to create devices that act as unique sensors. These biomaterials may be used
for detection of viruses or pathogens for homeland security. Other times we’re
just trying to create a method of measuring new materials interaction. We do
everything from pure to applied sciences.”
The new SEM will be part of that initiative. By outfitting it with a JC Nabity
pattern generator, the NESC has optimized the performance of this instrument
as a lithography tool. Housed in the NESC busy clean room environment, a sealed
and temperature-controlled acoustical chamber will protect the electron optics
column and precision electron beam generation from outside interferences. JEOL
engineers and West Virginia University engineers met with Integrated Dynamics
Engineering (IDE) to custom fit the enclosure for easy access, minimal use of
space, robust sealing of the panels for repeated opening and closing, uncompromising
temperature stability, and failsafe noise dampening. IDE’s AKH panel technology
is an evolutionary blend of material and construction to achieve optimal acoustic
isolation.
Continually upgrading and adding to their capabilities, West Virginia University
plays a key role in the state’s economic success. “West Virginia
University has always been at the top of the list for building economic development
in West Virginia. The state saw that WVNano had a real plan and really pushed
us into a plan for the state, which has been best known for coal and agricultural.
Now it’s nanoscience. People here can do top notch research.”